NEW YEARS

A REFLECTION OF NEW AND OLD

“DEFINE GOOD.”

it’s not an ask. it’s a demand. one not strict or violent but expectant of an answer nonetheless. it takes honest conviction, one that strums from the heart and soul, to put the mind at ease.

it doesn’t have to be. but he needs her to have the faith hard within her heart. with the new year looming, so too does the world revolve around a new slew of issues. they cannot be held up in the past, no matter how drastic the mistake.

it’s time to cut loose ties.

[attr="class","spiralpee"]
NEW YEAR NEW ME
Stormy Silph

NEW YEARS

A REFLECTION OF NEW AND OLD

“IT’S OKAY TO FEEL WEAKER.”

he can’t relate. weakness is not something he tolerates. not because he is strong—fernando is well aware of the realistic faults he possesses. but to be suck in that feeling is something he can never set himself into. there is no weak. just inferior to the future.

progress never ends. and as long as it continues, there is no ‘weak’, just ‘improving’.

“people get injured. sometime it takes them out. sometimes for a while.”

his hand reaches into his back pocket. he feels out the top of a small box before withdrawing a carton of cheap cigarettes.

“you rehabilitate and you grow again.”

[attr="class","spiralpee"]
NEW YEAR NEW ME
Stormy Silph

NEW YEARS

A REFLECTION OF NEW AND OLD

“WEAK AND WEAKER ARE NOT THE SAME.”

with all things, there is a nuance between words. they’re similar and constructed from the same foundation. but that does not mean they are the same. that miniscule difference is what makes the world both complicated and special.

“you think so?”

where she claims to have been strong, he plants his voice down firm with doubt. questioning. there is no question behind her reputation and strength, now, but to hold her head high since day one is one he disagrees with.

it’s only when she questions him that he turns. the same eyes that she knows, cold and barren, pierce back.

“i always mean what i say.”

[attr="class","spiralpee"]
NEW YEAR NEW ME
Stormy Silph

NEW YEARS

A REFLECTION OF NEW AND OLD

HE SAYS NOTHING at first. the cigarette between his fingers comes up to his lips. he takes his time in lighting it, taking a deep huff, before gathering a response.

“to be weak is to settle. it is a state. a baseline. that is intolerable.”

smoke, grey and pink, cloud around his lips. it reeks of the sour mix of MISTY TERRAIN and tobacco.

“but to be weaker is to be comparative. you can be strong but weaker than yesterday. that can be fixed.”

the first of the fireworks sail into the sky. it whistle behind him, rising until it pops in a flash of neon colors.

“so it’s okay to feel weaker. as long as you continue to push to be stronger.”

[attr="class","spiralpee"]
NEW YEAR NEW ME
Stormy Silph

NEW YEARS

A REFLECTION OF NEW AND OLD

HIS LIPS MOVE but no words come out. they’re drowned out by the peppery boom of lit cinders and ignited gunpowder. the display up above never lets up. the finale is set to impress and that means a constant stream of sparkles that outline the form of several pokemon.

somewhere in between, fernando gives up trying to say anything. instead, he pat her head reassuringly, a small pocket of physical affection up until his hand slides down to cup her cheek.

he lingers, glare sharpening, only to leave her with a final pat on the shoulder.

[attr="class","spiralpee"]
NEW YEAR NEW ME
Stormy Silph